Take a look at your fingernail (or your thumbnail). At the base, you may spot a white semicircle, looking a little like the sun peeping over the horizon. That crescent is the lunula. We don’t al ...

The half-moon shape at the base of the nail, beneath the cuticle, is known as the lunula. The lunula is part of the nail matrix, which is where the growth of the nail occurs. Any damage to the ...

Lunula with geometric decoration from the treasure of Chão de Lamas, in the National Archaeological Museum of Spain (MAN, inv. no. 28588). Credit: Piero Baguzzi / Museo Arqueológico Nacional, ...